Buzz Blog

Sundance 2010: Shorts Start

Sundance Film Festival's opening night has, in all previous
festivals, consisted of one big screening. This year, the programmers shook
things up by playing films from both the US Dramatic and Documentary
competitions (Howl and Restrepo, respectively) and, most
unexpectedly, a shorts program.

While Shorts Program I played at the smaller Egyptian
Theatre instead of the Eccles, where the other two screenings took place, the
festival organizers wanted to make clear that they weren't merely paying lip
service to films that run under an hour. Robert Redford came down for the
introduction and stated explicitly that the shorts program would from here on
be part of the opening night.

The program included two domestic and two international
efforts, spanning documentary, drama and animation, and was one of the most
consistently entertaining collections of shorts I've seen at the festival.

Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze was
the event's starlet, debuting his new short I'm Here. It tells a funny
and poignant love story between two robots with full personalities and
feelings, despite their purpose to do only menial chores. The character design
is the real star of the show, conveying amazingly clear emotions while only
moving only the robots' eyes and straight-line mouths.

Swedish director Patrik Eklund stole the show with Seeds
of the Fall, an absurd comedy of domestic surprises filled with sight gags
and unexpected turns. If he can cross his short-length talents over to his
in-the-works feature, it could be a smash at a Sundance to come.

Rory Kennedy (Ghosts of Abu Ghraib from Sundance
2007) showed her latest HBO project, The Fence. While structurally
unwieldy, Kennedy brings pointed humor and smart editing to this examination of
the waste of money that is the United
States' security fence on the Mexican
border. Yes, the builders really did leave mile-long gaps in the fence that
they have no plans to fill.

The trio of French directors known as H5 premiered the
animated short Logorama, which is 1,000 copyright lawsuits waiting to
happen. It depicts a world, and impending disaster, using nothing but the
logotypes of all your favorite corporations. Hopefully these guys have skilled
fair-use attorneys so we can see the movie after Sundance.